By Daniel Piotrowski
editor@jacksonvilleprogress.com
Bullard Independent School District has removed Jim Taylor as head coach of the Bullard High School football team.
“The district has decided to move in a different direction and coach Taylor has been reassigned from his duties as the head football coach. Coach Taylor is now performing other duties for the district and we will begin our search for his replacement immediately,” BISD Superintendent Keith Bryant said in a prepared statement.
Bryant said the coach has been reassigned to other administrative duties under the same contract at the same pay.
During the public forum portion of Tuesday's BISD board meeting, Taylor addressed the trustees and the audience. He said he came to Bullard HS roughly three years ago to change the athletic and, specifically, football program.
“I made a contractual and personal commitment to do just that. Prior to this day, I have never received any verbal or written documentation of any kind from the superintendent or the school board to suggest any need to change the direction of the athletic program or my leadership of that program. And yet today I was officially notified of my reassignment and nonextension of athletic director/head football coach by the superintendent of Bullard ISD,” Taylor said.
He said he has not been informed formally or informally of any mishandling of situations or decisions during his three years of employment at the school. The coaching staff has won as much as or more and the overall athletic program has been more successful than any in the school's history, Taylor said.
“I care for these kids and this program,” he said.
Taylor said he brought his family and son to Bullard to take part in the program. He was told by the superintendent and board that they supported him 100 percent and did not have any concerns about any decisions made by him.
“The school board president, with the approval of the superintendent, spoke to our coaches in support of our program and the direction we were going,” Taylor said.
Some people in Bullard have a personal agenda against him, he said, and the community did not know how to be successful in football.
“These kids in this program deserve to be treated better than you've treated them. A new coach every two years — never knowing who is going to be their coach next year,” Taylor said.
To close, he quoted David Smoak, who he said had always been supportive of his program. Smoak told him, regarding Bullard and the present situation he finds himself in, “All the crud you are going through is exactly why Bullard is where they are with their football program.”
